Manchester City are reportedly demanding that rivals such as Arsenal hand over ‘key and sensitive financial information’ amid their ongoing legal battle with the Premier League.
Pep Guardiola’s side recently claimed a significant legal victory over the Premier League regarding the Associated Party Transaction (APT) rules in place.
APT rules are in place to regulate sponsorship deals which clubs sign with companies linked to their owners and were tightened following Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund’s takeover of Newcastle United in October 2021.
Man City have claimed two legal wins over the league, with APT rules being deemed ‘null and void’ following a verdict in February.
This was not enough to end the dispute and a report last week claimed that the Cityzens have launched a ‘fresh legal assault’ in their APT ‘war’.
This was claimed by Daily Mail journalist Mike Keegan and he has another update regarding the case.
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Indeed, Keegan reports that City have made a ‘demand’ which could see a host of Premier League clubs – including Arsenal – ‘forced to hand over key and sensitive financial information’.
City’s lawyers are pushing for rival clubs to ‘provide detail on loans they have received from their owners’, with Brighton and Everton’s off-field activity also under scrutiny.
The club believe the rules they have successfully challenged ‘continue to discriminate’ and ‘want to use the information in their latest battle’.
City also claim that clubs like Arsenal have an ‘unfair advantage as they are not subject to the same scrutiny as other commercial deals’ having received ‘favourite or zero interest shareholder loans’.
Arsenal and co. don’t know yet if they will have to comply with City’s demands but they have been ‘informed of the request’, creating a ‘headache for the powers-that-be at the Emirates’.
An independent panel will consider the matter at a hearing in October and this case has no relation to City’s 115+ financial charges, with a verdict there not expected until next Spring.
The report adds:
Their view is that shareholder loans, which often feature favourable or zero interest rates, give clubs who receive them, such as the Gunners, an unfair advantage as they are not subject to the same scrutiny as other commercial deals.
Arsenal benefitted from £259m worth of shareholder loans in 2022-23 while, in 2023, Liverpool owed owners FSG £71.4m. Brighton benefitted from shareholder loans of around £406.5m in 2021-22 while Everton’s figure for 2022-23 was £450m.
An independent panel, which previously ruled in City’s favour, is set to consider the matter at a hearing in mid-October.
Ahead of that date, representatives for City have asked the Premier League to use its Rule B18 which states that clubs ‘shall comply promptly with any request for information’.
After their previous victory, City warned the competition against effectively tweaking rules on APTs, which are commercial deals with groups linked to clubs’ ownerships. They have now carried through on their threat to take legal action against them. Following their initial success, clubs were hit with a bill of more than £20m.
Should City again emerge successful the Premier League could see its financial rules thrown into disarray once more with its clubs hit with another hefty legal bill.
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